Posted by
PastorBlastor on Friday, October 19, 2007 3:18:32 PM
By Pastor Lee Hemen
October 19, 2007
Diana West in her book "The Death of the Grown-Up: How America's Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization" explains “why perpetual adolescence is not just a cultural drag, but also dangerous to our way of life.” She deftly argues that “the leveling of adult authority over the past half century or so was accompanied by a leveling of cultural authority. This brought on the age of multiculturalism, a time when Western Civilization (like the adult) no longer occupies its old pinnacle atop the hierarchy of cultures. The multicultural conception of equally valuable cultures (except for the West, which is deemed the pits) depends on a strenuous non-judgmentalism. This non-judgmentalism expresses itself in a self-censoring adherence to political correctness. Such non-judgmentalism, such PC self-censorship, is infantilizing because it requires us to suppress our faculties of analysis and judgment.”
She writes, “Case in point: Our society's refusal to analyze and judge the anti-Western teachings of mainstream Islam for fear of giving offense to the grandees of PC, or to Muslims, or both. This refusal, I maintained, is a brewing civilizational crisis.”
We find that this malady has infected the Christian church as well. We multiculturally demure to those who want to soften the gospel message so as not to “offend,” in order to get warm bodies through the doors of the church. We will also excuse our vote for a questionable candidate because they are willing to spout a “conservative” line rather than adhere to moral biblical teaching. We argue in the spiritual ether realm of whether or not biblical Christians should get involved in politics rather than asking what God would truly have us do. Voting for either an openly immoral person or one that espouses cultic mysticism founded on fraud and deception should make the stomachs of evangelical Christians lurch. We should not place our core beliefs on hold for the expediency of an election. Who do we serve, God or man?
William Grudem, Research Professor of Bible and Theology at the Phoenix Seminary in Phoenix, AZ recently in an online argument suggested otherwise. Christians need to take a closer look at what those of Grudem’s ilk would have us do with our faith. Here is what I mean:
The lofty argument that “God used Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to raise Joseph to a position of authority over the whole country, so he could save his people from famine (Genesis 41:37-57).” Is an apple and oranges argument for us to make in our day and age. Why? Because it forgets that God hardened Pharaoh’s murderous heart to kill his own family and his army. Also, we are not the Israelites suffering under the throws of slavery in a foreign land being judged for our ancestor’s stupid decisions!
Yes, God used Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, to protect and raise up Daniel and his Jewish friends to positions of high authority over Babylon (Daniel 2:46-49). However, lest we forget, Daniel, his buddies, and their families were all under God’s judgment and were taken prisoner, removed from their homeland, and raised by a dictatorial state for the purposes of cultural assimilation! Daniel’s buddies had to walk the fire for their faith and Daniel was tried and made lion fodder for his public commitment of God.
So, this begs the question: Are those who readily espouse Christians vote in an ungodly cultic President, do so because they want Christians to be tried and tested for their faith? I find this odd indeed!
Sure, God used Cyrus, King of Persia, one of the most horrendous people who ever walked the face of the earth helped the Jewish exiles return to their homeland (Isaiah 45:16; Ezra 1:1-4), and He used Darius, King of Persia, to protect the Jewish people as they rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 6:1-12). Yet, both of these kings were only outdone in their apartheid tactics by Adolf Hitler and how they continually thwarted God’s people! Okay, so they were a little bit better sometimes, but if the Israelites were given the choice of voting them in as their “King,” do you seriously think they would have? Should we as believers vote in someone so that God can “test us?” Come on, get real! To use Old Testament examples to justify our voting in someone who is openly immoral or cultic is rather odd.
While, “In the New Testament age, God used the peace enforced by the secular Roman Empire, the Pax Romana, to enable the early Christians to travel freely and spread the Gospel throughout the Mediterranean world.” He also used them to rape, pillage, and burn Christians as torches for their garden parties. Some “peace.” And, Christians had no choice in the matter of who was or was not going to be Caesar.
Our multicultural attitudes of the day should not influence our holiness before the Lord. Why is it so difficult for Christians to take a firm stand and practice their faith first and foremost in our day and age? Are we more sensitive to what others may think, worry that God is not in control, or that we have to compromise our faith in order to get along in today’s society? Should we not be the “salt and light” Jesus actually called us to be? Perhaps it is time for Christians to grow up, stand up, and shine for the Lord instead of expediency. Perhaps, God would have us vote for “none of the above?”